Pope appoints new coadjutor archbishop for archdioces

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 1, 2016

Pope Francis appointed a new coadjutor archbishop on Monday for the Archdiocese of Agana who will have the right to succeed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who is facing canonical trial at the Vatican over alleged sexual abuse of altar boys.

The pope appointed Monsignor Michael Jude Byrnes, currently an auxiliary bishop in Detroit, as coadjutor archbishop for Guam, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“I am humbled by the Holy Father’s decision to entrust the Archdiocese of Agana to my pastoral care,” said Bishop Byrnes in the release.

A coadjutor archbishop has succession rights when a bishop or archbishop resigns, retires or is removed.

The Vatican placed Apuron, 70, on temporary leave on June 6 after former altar boys publicly accused him of rape and molestation when he was a parish priest in the 1970s, according to news files.

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